Blue By Ninety - Blue By The Numbers: We Just Talk About Bryce Underwood

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

Brian and Tanner are back with Blue By The Numbers, discussing the electric debut of Bryce Underwood, defensive concerns, and more.

All right. Welcome back to Blue By the Numbers for the first time in 2025. I want to give a big thanks to our title sponsor, Feldman Chevrolet of Highland, as well as Woodson Whiskey. Both of those companies had some goodies at our tailgate in week one, had a nice Silverado on hand. A couple drinks, Brian, I might have to start talking to the sales guys. The Maze and Blitz, Cinnamon Whiskey. A lot of these cinnamon whiskeys are maybe, you know, 30%. No, this is 40% APV. giddy up pretty good man Brian how have you been it's been a minute been a lot of things that have happened since the last time we spoke on a podcast kind of forum like this and uh football's back football's back man excited to talk about it so fun uh you know it's always fun to have the team back

but it's really exciting this year to have after last year with a visible quarterback play to have such a star quarterback and a new scheme and a lot of new guys contributing so excited to talk about it, man. Excited for the season. Yeah, I know Justin and I have had conversations on this, on our Blue By 90 podcast around our expectations for Bryce. I listen to a lot of Michigan football related podcast and, you know, a lot of folks that I respect in terms of their kind of football acumen and what they see and, you know, I've seen some kind of folks that were maybe a little unsure and now it's like, yep, let's go, giddy up, right? To your point. So, you know, coming in,

I wasn't sure what to expect from Bryce Underwood. And I was slightly optimistic. But man, like, just from the first play, I know it's a little bubble screen on an orbit motion from Samaj Morgan, but ball gets there, gets to the hands, let's the receiver get up field, gets 12 yards, and you're just like, okay, what else has he got in the track? Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine if he didn't exceed your expectations as a fan,

I don't know what your expectations were. I mean, I just thought he just looked so poised. He had the whole playbook there. And I got, I don't know, I don't know, a half dozen texts within the first series. Like, man, this guy throws lasers and just can of an arm, all those types of comments. I mean, he's just a special, special guy, you know, from a talent standpoint, we have to see if he can put it all together for us. But, man, so fun. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of, I think, people that have seen a big arm.

It's like, all right, you can throw lasers. And even during the game, like, hey, you can throw a piss missile, right? You know, you've got a couple throws on the third and 14 and the two-minute drill. He's got to throw across his body to Kendrick Bell for a big game. But then you see the layering of the football. Can you get it over to Fenders? Can you drop it in a bucket? Does that to Marlon Klein.

That was right before the dart to Kendrick Bell in that drive. Well, come out of your end zone, too. When you watch that play, you know, the replay of that, I mean, he had used the word feather. much i love that i mean both those guys had a play on the ball he had he just perfect touch under that situation i thought was so so special and just a glimpse of what's to come yeah and the the throw to kendrick bell i think yeah i want to because we're going to kind of digest i think um because i've got some some thoughts um the throw to kendrick bell he gets some pressure from his right side but does what is you know veteran quarterback would do steps up slides out a little bit

And that poor number seven, I believe, for New Mexico. It was, yeah. I don't know if you watched, I think you said it. Seven killed us on offense, but not on defense. No, not on defense. But Brooks Austin does, you know, he's got a YouTube channel where they just kind of digest film and watch that. And he made a comment.

Yeah, I really enjoyed watching his breakdown of Michigan with Bryce Underwood and then Oklahoma with John Mateer as well. But, you know, he made the comment. He's like, number seven has no idea anybody on earth can make this throw. I mean, he throws it on a dime. let's receive a good upfield. There's a lot of yards after catch in this game, similar to that third and 14 on that dig route to Channing Goodwin

that he just puts on a rope, man. Like, there's more to be seen, but for a first time, just turned 18 years old, true freshman quarterback with all the hype, all the weight of expectations on his shoulders just came out. He's having fun, smiling, tongues out, celebrating, throwing blocks. Like, I could not have been.

more impressed with what I saw on Saturday from Bryce Underwood. They showed him on the sidelines before the kick and right before they took the field. And he was jumping up and down like crazy. He was so much energy. And that made me nervous. Like I really wasn't nervous. But, you know, you see these guys get overhyped and they come in and throw it to, you know, throw it 40 yards over some guys had or throw it to a defender. And he came in and just no problem.

Let's get to business. And the reality is, you know, his stat line was very impressive, no matter how you look at it. And he had, there's always drops, but he had three or four really bad drops. He goes over 300 easy without those drops, you know. Yeah, I mean, we're talking about here, you know, not tough drops. So, yeah, I thought he put the ball in the right place. The one incomplete she had to climb like he was trying to shield up with the defender. He missed up by six inches, you know.

I mean, he just, he was really impressive. And, you know, one game, we've seen, we've seen some quarterbacks in our time as Michigan fans, look really good for a game and get our hopes high. None of them had the ceiling and none of them had the traits that Bryce had. But, you know, let's see it for a few more games, but the early returns are so great. So great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think about Fred Moore had a drop right in the bread basket. I mean, that was a really impressive throw from Bryce. He's rolling to his left. He's a right-hand quarterback, gets his shoulder square, fires it in there. Fredmore drops it. He has the seam shot in the first drive to Channing Goodwin because they went cover three. And so

he turned his eyes to that seam route and just maybe a little excited, to your point. But I love the idea, you know, taking a shot on a play like that. And it throws it so hard that, hey, nobody on the defense is going to catch it. I mean, the guys on Michigan's offense sometimes still were surprised by the ball. But, yeah, to your point, the Marlon Klein, there was a third down where it hit him in the hands. I think as the season goes on, these guys will maybe, you know, know, know to expect how fast of a ball he's going to be throwing in there. Yeah, yeah. They have nerves, too.

I mean, most of the guys that played last night, almost, a lot of the guys that played, particularly on offense, haven't seen the field that much and haven't seen the field for Michigan. I mean, other than Samaj Morgan, really, most of the guys contributing on offense in the skill positions are all new to the team, new to the scheme, new to seeing, having playing time. So a lot of nerves there to dust off. Yeah, I'm trying to think if there's anything else I'd like to talk about

with Bryce Underwood because it's a lot of fun to think about the future and just in game one, this is a guy that you're going to get, you know, hopefully 45-ish starts out of in his college career and he's see the NFL number one pick. I mean, that's the fit, to your point, like the physical talent, he's the most talented quarterback that's come through Michigan, I think, already, like you can just see it. Just how mature he looks too. He's a command of the offense, right? We watched the spring game.

I was at the spring game. A couple of delay of games early on. You're a little panicking. You're like, all right, Mikey Keene, what's going on with him? and just none of that in this game. I mean, was in control the offense. I think there was one where he didn't let his motioning receiver get set for a second, which caused a penalty, but otherwise, and I'll be honest, Brian,

I think this is probably a kid that, you know, makes a mistake once, rarely twice, and then it's gone, right? So he's going to learn from that, but, man, you talk about being excited and hopeful for the next three years. I mean, I always thought year, two, year three of his tenure was going to be the time to go and make a run at it. And that's still true. But if he's going to be like this,

where again, New Mexico, you want to talk about the opponent, fine. But a lot of these throws, you know, their opponent, regardless of the opponent, they're just piss missiles. So that maybe changes the dynamic of 2025 for Michigan and what they can accomplish. 100%. I think the other thing that if anyone was paying attention, Chip Lindsay is just a great addition to the staff.

I mean, I loved the scheme that he put together with him. He didn't give him time to think. They played with so much tempo, get up the line of scrimmage and go. Didn't ask him to make a bunch of pre-snap reads. Like, let's just go and have a plan, you know, if your first option is not there, you know, bringing back the, we saw tight-end screens, we saw wide receiver screens. We saw a bubble screen, you know, I mean, bringing that back to give him confidence. And even on those, he throws right in the numbers, little missiles.

You know what I mean? How many times do you see watching college football, not so much the NFL, but college football where that play, that pass is so bad that it's blown up before it even gets started. He just throws a missile so those guys can react and make some play. So I just love the scheme, you know, and then kind of just the concepts that he has him operating on so he doesn't have to think a lot and dwell and overthink. I think, you know, any of us that start something new, you know, you can overthink things.

And with a special athlete like that, just as lot of his athleticism and his natural instincts and everything you've taught him so far take over. And we saw that happen. And I think he's just a great fit. They seem to be a good pair. Yeah. No, I was impressed with Chip Lindsay.

I thought he was very complimentary of the run game with Bryce, knowing that Bryce didn't run, had no designed runs. I mean, he scrambled to throw on Saturday night. But I think the thing that you watch Bryce and we've made because he is the most recent NFL level quarterback to come out of the University of Michigan is J.J. McCarthy. When you look at the way J.J. would get the ball out so quickly. I think Bryce, his release might be quicker and the ball might get there quicker, like on these outs. The ball definitely gets there quickly. Yeah. And JJ, he's not a, he had a strong arm, right?

He's not a strong arm. That's why he's a starter with the top 10 pick without it. Exactly. So, yeah, man, very exciting. Let's his receivers get the ball and make a move and go get some extra yardage. I mean, I don't know what your opinion is, but I kind of see him as somewhere. He's not DeNard Robinson in terms of, you know, I don't think we'll ever see that again. But somewhere between him and Devin Gardner in terms of athletic, and they didn't bring that at all.

I have to imagine versus better opponents like Oklahoma, you're going to see six, seven, eight designed runs. And we haven't seen that yet because he didn't, I mean, he didn't. even try to run. I mean, he clearly had a gag order on running the ball. Like, hey, not on blocking, though. Yeah. No, not on blocking. Yeah. That was awesome. I mean, hey, man, football player, right? Earn the respect to your teammates. I saw, I think it was T.J. guy that said he was fired up when he saw that one of the pressers today. How did you not be? How could you have me fired up? Well, you're pretty expensive right arm. Football sense, you're like, you know, come on. Absolutely. Just in terms of being a football guy and a guy that loves the game, I mean, that was cool to see and it was like a form block dude right yeah i mean i guess i'm sure brice will come up

again in this podcast but the last thing that i'll say right now that uh that film review i watch definitely go check it out brooks austin um he's a georgia guy but he does a good job i've not always loved his takes on twitter uh especially during sign gate if i remember right but uh you know did a good job breaking it down um he he said that bryce underwood has the physical attributes of Cam Newton with the arm of C.J. Strout. And he said he was trying not to be hyperbolic. So take that for what it's worth. His breakdown was pretty good. Very exciting. Another guy made his debut Saturday, Justice Haynes, Alabama transfer, played two years at Alabama, and, you know, just ho-hum, 160 yards, almost 10 yards of three touchdowns,

two 50-plus yarders. Did I think Michigan all of last year had, did they have two 50-plus rushes in the season? Maybe it was, I think it was in, in, in explode, we were last in the country in explosive plays. So we didn't have a lot of big plays, run, pass, however you want to shake it. They, we were, we were, we lacked in that department. Yeah, it was not great. And just to see, and we'll talk about the office of line. We're, you know, we're going to kind of work our way through.

I think we want to spend the most time on Bryce, just because. But I think when you look at the run game, it most reminded me of 2023 where I think people were concerned in 2020, and again, they don't have Zinter or Keegan on this line. But I think people were a little concerned because Michigan would get these breakaway runs and then it might be three, three, two, four, maybe a six-yard run in there. And that kind of was what it was Saturday night. But those explosives still count. You can't take them away as much as people like to do.

Well, if take away the explosives, their upper carry was 2.7. Don't care, man. 100 plus yards on two carries. That's still part of what happened on the game on Saturday night. So what was your thoughts on Haynes? And then, you know, Jordan Marshall coming back after a big kind of breakout performance in the RoyQuest Bowl. I felt like Marshall, you know, kind of got the yards that were there.

I don't think he, you know, was, I didn't see anything where I'm like, oh, my gosh, where are you going? I just don't think that it was, you know, a lot of opportunity for him to run. So what are your thoughts on the two running backs? Well, I think they played, they did, you know, with a hot-handed approach. I think you want to see variations of that. I think the one to, I think Marshall's going to be fine. He's going to have some huge games.

Haynes exceeded my. expectations i had no idea he was that fast i mean as good as quorum was you never really saw him or very rarely saw him break away you know and you know he gets the outside and someone would inevitably chase him down if the run was long enough and haines was really fast i thought the run game was really solid but not great um you know i think they used marshal between you know up the middle, what was it, 190 of their 207 yards were to the outside, right? So when Michigan's at its best, when that smash mouth culture, excuse me, that was one thing that I was just pointed in, I guess, an opponent like New Mexico that they couldn't just line up and run it in

between the center and guards and run it down their throat for four or five yards. They couldn't do that. And so, and that's a concern. One, two, those were the carries that Marshall was getting. So they just weren't effective in open up holes in that center run scheme. And everything, all the big explosives really, even though Marshall's long for his first touchdown was, you know, right off the guard in between the tackle and they kicked it out. Everything was kind of to the sidelines that had success. So they got to sort that out, and I think they will. But, you know, we need to be able to look.

When we're our best, we're going to line up, we're coming right at you, and we're going to get four or five yards. And that just wasn't there on Saturday. Yeah. Counterpoint, I think the yardage they put up was about, what, what, $450-ish? Yeah. I would venture to say that's probably more than any game last year. Maybe the Northwestern game. I don't remember that.

I was there. I don't remember the yardage. I just remember it was like 50 to 6 or whatever it was. So maybe that game. But otherwise, that's the best offense I've seen for Michigan in a year. No, now. All in, right? And so there's things to clean up, but, you know, there's a baseline there to be able to improve

and to see his offense grow, especially as, you know, Moore has put on Bryce Underwood's plate, allowing him to kind of ease into things. And maybe that's going to open things up, right? We didn't really see many deep shots as well. So, well, I think, you know, I think one thing that's going to soften up that middle is when Bryce keeps a couple of those, you know, they were wide open by the way. They were wide open. And so he hits a few of those and all of a sudden that linebacker in safety that are pinching down are peeking to the outside because he's burned for a couple times. And I think that was intentional, right? Like knowing they're going to need that versus Oklahoma. So that's why I say there's room for

optimism because he's going to hit on those. And unlike Orgy that just always ran into wherever the trouble was, I think he's such an athlete and such a smart football player that he's going to hit some big runs. And that's what I'm excited to see. And I think the more success he has with that, the more it's going to soften up the middle of the defenses that are loaded up to, you know, loaded up in that box to stop our run game. So there's There's reason for baptism. Absolutely. I know he's a tight end H-back, but I'm going to lump in with the running backs.

I thought Max Bredison was an absolute beast. He sprung that first touchdown. He blocked two guys. Follow Max. Yes. And Justice Haynes did a great job of kind of cutting that out. And, you know, that safety had nowhere to go on that first touchdown run. So, Bredison, he had a catch in one of their first two touchdown drives.

And, you know, we know what we're going to get from Breddie. He's a monster. He's a friend of the program, front of Plova-90. He's my favorite guy on that team, man. I love him. Yeah, hard not to love him. And then I'll group in Marlon Klein with the receiver. So what were your thoughts on the receiving room?

I mean, you know, Donovan McCulley coming in, Chan and Goodwin kind of, you know, first real game action. And then Samaj, I thought, you know, after last year, I don't know how much of that I put on him necessarily. Do you remember after the USC game real quick, Samaj runs a seam route and is like just wide, oh. open, just screaming for the ball. Yep, yep. I don't know if those safeties are going to be that close to the line of scrimmage with Bryce Sunderwood playing quarterback, but last year it was tough to tell if that was Samaj or the offense, probably a little bit of both, but I do think Samaj is a really

explosive athlete. So those are kind of the top three guys in the receiving room. And then obviously Marlon, I mentioned earlier, had a fantastic game. Yeah. He did. You know, a couple of things is in the circles that I run in, most of the people that I talked to were so down on Samaj Moore. and, like, you know, just in all the different ways that we talk about, you know,

discourse about Michigan football. So many guys were down on Samaj. I think he was a victim of horrible quarterback play. He appears, at least with early returns, to be sort of a perfect fit for all the screen game that Chip wants to run. So I think he's going to have a really big year. It wouldn't surprise me to see him lead the team in receptions. You know, I think one of the bigger surprises out of camp was, at least to me, was Channing

Goodwin beating out Frederick Moore for that number two spot. and, I mean, that seems obvious. I mean, we already mentioned the bad drop that Frederick Moore had, and Goodwin looked apart. Goodwin had two drops himself, but, I mean, he looked, you know, he was open running open a lot. I mean, you know, how many times last year do we talk about watching the games and not seeing receivers run open?

There were guys open, and, you know, he went in other directions, but all in all, I think, you know, McCulley's going to have some big plays and he seems to be fitting right in. I think Andrew Marsh is going to be a star. He just looks, you know, fast coming off the, line. Marlon Klein, I think there's so much to be excited about, and what's even more exciting about him is if you watch the tape and anyone that's listened to us watch it, he did a lot of the stuff, a lot of his big plays from that in-line, tight-in position, which isn't the role

really that Colson Loveland played. He's kind of playing the same spot he was playing a lot of last year and just having success there. One of the guys that got spoken about most during camp was Hogan Hanson, who didn't play. I think he's going to be back this week against. I think I read that as well. Right. And they're super fired about him, and he's going to be playing the role of Colston Loveland, which I don't think will diminish Marlon Klein's targets or anything.

It's just it's the role they play within the scheme. And so that's something really be excited about. So you run some snaps with Samaj Morgan, quick, twitchy guy in the slot. And then, you know, the next snap, the defense has to adjust having Hogan Hanson, I think it's like six, five. Yeah. And super fast, super athletic, and they're super excited about him. That's three supers.

But, you know, I think there's a lot of excitement there. You know, I think we're still a little bit away from having the types of weapons we want to have on the edges and the outside with a talent like Bryce, if we're being honest. But I think it looks much improved over last year. And I think the scheme that Chip Lindsay has will take advantage of all those unique skill sets. Well, don't you think, depending on what Bryce does this year, but I feel pretty confident. He's got a really good year after watching week one. Those receivers might be willing to come to Michigan now.

They have 26 class. They have studs of my receiver. Yeah, yeah. Maybe some guys in the portal that are, you know, plug and play. That too, yeah, that too. Yeah, so, and, you know, your point on Marlon Klein playing more inline, you know, it might be a little more like AJ Barner, but just more athletic, which AJ Barner's been really good with the Seahawks.

He had a great year for Michigan. That's a really good comparison. I hadn't thought of that, but that's a really good comparison. And playing a similar role, right? Yeah, and he's a good blocker. I don't know if he's as good of a blocker as Barner. I don't know, man. You know, I don't sit there and I, you know, I don't watch, like, you know,

some of these folks that are out in the Michigan world and credit to him, because I read it all, but they're, I mean, they're really digested. Man, I, you know, playing football, my least everything. And obviously, this is what you got to do, but like, rewinds, rewind, rewind. I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. What were your thoughts in the OL? I thought, you know, moving Geo back over to.

the left side moving back over the left side they looked more comfortable there yeah um the past protection i thought was great i mean you know you watch the replays he had a nice pocket um i think i already mentioned i think they need to tighten up of that run game and i think that he helped by their running scheme but they were better i don't think they were uh i saw a clip yesterday that the jo more award folks posted a few clips the line and mentioned that they're already on the watch list that they were doing some things that caught their eye. They don't just do that for fun. I don't remember that happening once last year.

So they rotated guys. I guess Sprag got hurt a little bit early, didn't play a ton of snaps. They rotated Norton and a foe beat a lot. I thought Norton looked really good. So I think with continuity, they're going to get better, much improved from last year. You had said earlier, you know,

we don't have Zendurban-on-Kegan on this line. But I think it can be effective And I think with Chip's scheme of moving things around and the quick play action, they'll find the rules on their timing. And I'm optimistic, you know. Yeah, yeah. I thought, you know, there was no really kind of standing out for me like, oh, my God, like last year or it was like every week, it was like, oh, man, there's just in the backfield

in a split second, right? I didn't see that. I thought, you know, I thought the past pro is really good. There were a couple times. And you know what, hey, part of pass pros, your quarterback helping you out, right? You're not going to be perfect. I mean, you can say it's New Mexico, but we talked about this, Justin and I, these guys that transferred in to follow Jason Eck, who was the head coach in Idaho,

that hung with Oregon last year, the undefeated Big Ten champs. They're all at New Mexico. And that, I'll tell you what, you know, FCS football, I mean, is legit. Those top 10 FCS schools probably would be fringe top 25 teams in the FBS. I think they're a lot better. than the lower level FBS schools, and I don't think a lot of people realize that, you know, look, it's still New Mexico.

But they got some guys on that team. They had a Nebraska transfer at linebacker who had like 80 tackles last year. So they had some players. And I really, I think there were a lot of Michigan fans who maybe, you know, didn't love Jason Eck, called a timeout with three seconds left and all that. But I actually, over the course of the week,

I kind of came to really appreciate him as a football coach. And his son's the starting linebacker and kind of the quarterback of the defense played at Idaho under him. Just hearing more. more about him really really was like appreciative of him he's trying to get they're playing in the big house right and he wants his guys to have an opportunity to say hey i sport a touchdown against the michigan wolverines when i was in college right so all that stuff but he's a he's a good football coach i know it's been a good fcs program uh under him and previously so uh i think all and all

i was pretty impressed with the old line i feel good um about where things are i don't you know it's not the 22 line with o lu and those guys right but i do think it's going to be serviceable I think just, you know, having Bryson, we'll see what he's able to do as, again, more the offense has opened up to him to kind of, you know, force the defense to maybe not stack the box like they did last year. We'll see if that opens things up for them. Yeah, three things about and New Mexico. One, coming from Idaho, if you're watching this, check out what Idaho's uniforms this week. They are sweet. They're rolling out some special uniforms.

They're sick. two, their punter posted a video of the team like rolling into Ann Harbor and seeing the facilities and going on the field and, you know, seeing it for his perspective and he was, it was a very humble approach of just how amazing it was for teams like New Mexico to come play in the big house. And, you know, that's not just the big house. Any, you know, go play Ohio State, Penn State, these lower level schools and get an opportunity to play in front of 100,000 fans. It was just really cool to see. And then the third point being, it's New Mexico and And we have Oklahoma in the biggest game in the country this Saturday.

How much what are, you know, people will talk about the opponent, the opponent, the opponent. Well, two things come with an opponent when they're, are the week before a huge game like we have this week. One, guys looking ahead, coaches looking ahead, Sharon looking ahead to his alma mater. Two, us holding back, you know, our playbook, like we already talked about, Bryce didn't run, you know, they brought a bunch of, we'll get the defense a minute, they brought a bunch of pressure early, and then after that they kind of went vanilla. and then these guys trying to play up for the game of their life.

So I think there's a lot of things in play when people want to diminish playing well, again, a stelester opponent, you know. Yeah, I saw a lot of that on Twitter. I tell you what, a little side tangent here, every time I look at Twitter and, you know, I don't necessarily need to be on it, but, you know, that's a social media aspect of Blueback 90 and want to be able to know. Man, I get dumber every time I look at it, Brian. It is astounding.

And it's not just rival fans. fans. It's Ohio State fans, like, man, especially, you know, the older I get, like, it amazes me how seriously some people take social media. Yeah, so a lot of that going around in terms of, oh, it was just, you know, 3417 against New Mexico. I guarantee you didn't watch the game. So I know. There's so much that. I got invited to a stream last night for Oklahoma fans, you know, I'm just a silent observer. And my IQ is on life support after listening to those guys. So they just, their perceptions about Michigan football is our Oklahoma better team, better program, have that argument how you want. But just some of their takes like they knew anything on Michigan football was just like, why would anybody listen to this?

That's why I'm not going to talk about, like, I don't know Oklahoma like that. I don't have time to go and watch their last year's games and watch it here. And I know he's a pretty solid quarterback. I know struggle with power four teams last year. You know, that's about all I know. I know they got Jade Knott from Cal who was a stud in 23, hurt last year, hurt this year. I don't know much more than that, you know. I know Brett Venable is a heck of a coach, a heck of a guy.

I don't know the heck of a coach, but a heck of a defensive coordinator. Yeah, absolutely. Jury's out for him as a head coach. Well, he's going to bring it. Yeah. Defensive. I know. Speaking of defense, I know there was a lot of hand-wringing on social media once again.

I wasn't that concerned. You know, there was a field goal from your boy, Andrew Marsh. Got to get that ball a little high and tight. I'm with you, though. He's going to be a stud. Got to look for the ball, too, on that. on that whole shot from price but you know give up a field goal um did a great job getting to stop because it was three and out basically into the field goal i don't know what you would consider

that um and then you know that their last touchdown drive the bar ham targeting don't know what we're doing there we can talk about that if you have some thoughts i mean i think there's not a michigan fan alive that doesn't think that's BS right like he's a six three guy tackling a six foot tall quarterback what's he's supposed to do he's not there's not a launch point there. I said you know, I'm talking about it, no, I'm talking about it. You know, because it was just so obvious. But, you know, you could see how someone would say their helmets do come together. But to me, it's about intent, right? He wasn't lost to. He was coming in. He tried to try to if you want to give a 15-yarder with no ejection, sure. Yeah. Yeah, right. 100%. Because of the

take a kid out for, you know, not just that game, but the first half of the second game. I mean, it's just ridiculous. To me, the intent plays a big role. Like, 100%. 15 yards. If you think it's a Helmut to helmet hit, but it was clearly he wasn't. There wasn't a launch point at him. But the defense as a whole, like, I love how aggressive they are. I feel like I've been trying to think, and I've been a Michigan fan for a long time, I can't remember a team that we've had that has as many just athletic specimen studs. You know what I mean?

Like, I may sound weird, but you know what I mean? Like, guys that want to bring it, like we've had a lot of bumpers over the years. But, I mean, you look at all levels of this defense, guys, our lineback and core, the first unit, the second unit, the third unit, all bring it. Our safeties, you know, we've had some hard-hitting safeties, but not a duo like these two. We'll see how they are in coverage against Oklahoma's week, but I have concerns there. But just in terms of being an intimidating team, we're very aggressive. And then before we get into individual positions, they gave up all their yards. and two drives. They count, right? It doesn't matter where the points come from, where the yards come. They count. But they had two really good drives that were helped by some penalties. They had a dropped ball that was in the complete pass and they got up to the line. You know, shame on Sharon Moore and his team for not being like, time out, you know, when they saw that happen. Well, to be fair, they got up to the line quick. I don't even know. He's got to have some of the sidelines or in the booth saying call time out, call time out, call time out. You know what I mean? Like we were all seen that on TV in the three, four second delay.

You know, when you're watching that live on TV, like, let's go. Someone's got to call down. There's got to be organic button there. Yeah. Because that drives over. That drives over. Yeah. Instead of one down, I got points.

So, but yeah, I mean, again, I don't think the defense's very aggressive, a lot to like, but there's some, you know, I thought our linebackers are as good as we've been. I think our defensive tackles are not the same, but I think as a group. We played five guys on the interior. All five of them played 30 snaps. All of them were credited with a pressure. So, like, deep group. You know, I don't think they play that many against Oklahoma.

I just don't. They're going to watch tape and hoop practice as well, and they'll tighten up all the position groups of who get snaps. But, you know, I think there's some positives there. And I thought, Damon Payton, you know, everyone was talking about Ben. Very pleasant surprise. Damon Payne was a wrecking ball.

So weird seeing a guy at 44 his size to me. I kind of like it. I do. I do. I do. I do. We see guys that big playing with one and zero, but 44 is like a traditional lineback. That's only one digit off from 55, right?

Right, right. But he, that's true. That's a good point. But it just looked odd. And he had a great game. I don't think anyone was expecting of the returning players and, you know, the new guys. I don't think that's who people were expecting. And the other guy I thought that was most important.

impressive, maybe, you know, maybe not the most impressive, that's hyperbole a little bit, but the most surprisingly impressive was Eno Eta. He had a great game. Yeah, I felt like when he was in there, and they spread the snaps up. The five guys all played the same amount of snaps. The most had 36, the least had 30. I mean, they were all the same, and Edda was everywhere. I felt like he was around the ball a lot.

And so that was real promising. So, you know. Yeah, a lot of the young guys played well. I mean, Dom Nichols had a sack. Nate Marshall is going to be a dog. Ooh, he's going to play out. Yeah, Edda looked really good. Damon Payne, again, was a very nice surprise.

I saw the, I don't remember the exact quote, but it was defensive light coach Louis Posito, talking about how they were watching Alabama film, and he's like, man, you look a little bit different. And David's like, yeah, we run a lot more here. So that's nice to hear. But yeah, he looked good, man. He was getting, you know, pushback on that goal line, almost stand.

in the third quarter. It was late third quarter. Yeah, I liked what I saw from Trey Pierce. You know what you're going to get from Rayshaw and Benny. I don't remember seeing much of Trey Williams' name, but he kind of feels like more of a kind of a space, you know, kind of a space eater kind of guy. I agree.

I don't remember seeing, like, him making huge impacts, but he's that guy that kind of makes the guy. I think if you don't see him and you see other guys flashing, that's his job to free things up for the guys around him. So, yeah, I thought the edge, the compelling thing to me about the edge was, at least for me. I don't know how other Michigan fans felt or how you felt.

But, you know, I was really excited about T.J. Guy and Derek Moore. But the guys that flashed were Dom Nichols. Cam Brant was the best guy on the line. He was everywhere. Yeah, he played this tail off. Nate Marshall is, it's exciting, other than Bryce, as exciting of a freshman player on this roster, that guy is going to be good. And we have a few of them, but he's going to be good.

And some more coming, by the way. Yeah, and some more coming. It's a Carter Meadows. I mean, he's kind of the same profile as March. So, yeah, they've been just recruiting their ass off up front. And it shows, right? In rural and in high school, and these guys are getting experience and excited to see these younger guys. You know, I've been excited about Trey Peters since he flipped.

I think he was a Wisconsin commit back in the day, flipped the Michigan. Late, right? Yeah, you know, Edna was, I think, the highest ranked guy in the 2023 class, which hasn't really panned out. So it would be great for him to hit. He came in undersized, you know. That all came in like a tweeter, right? Not sure it was going to be an edge or DT or Five Tech. That's exactly right.

Yeah, I was, you know, I thought the defensive line played. Well, T.J. Guy had a pretty nice kind of acrobatic catch on that interesting deflection off the ground. Yeah, that play was awesome. Yeah. That's an all the timer. Would have loved to punch it in from there. But we're done talking about the offense. So, yeah.

Yeah, linebacker, though, I mean, we've already talked about Jay Sean. He was a beast all game until he was out of there. Yeah. You know, Housewell was more uncomfortable. He's a missile, man. Yeah. Yeah, he's, I mean, get him Saturday night a little bit later in the evening, is what we'll say. You know, Houseman was kind of Houseman.

I didn't notice anything super positive, super negative. He's a tapping machine. He's all over the place. Side line to sideline. He's everywhere. I did see him get juke once in zone on a catch, but, you know. coverage in the middle is scary. Like, I think up the middle, I think Barham and Houseman are both great against the run.

But, you know, the team that can throw in the slot, you know, our safeties, I think are thumpers. I'm curiously of how they're going to hold up to a team that's going to throw it 40 times a game. There's some concerns there, but I think the brightest light in the linebacker room easily. And Chase Taylor played snaps, played good. Troy Bowles, had two tackles for losses. Yeah. Cool Sullivan, man. That guy's going to be a player.

What was his stat line? He played 15 snaps. He had five tackles. Two stops. one quarterback pressure, one sack interception. That's a stat line. 15 snaps. That's a stat line.

So. Yeah. How about Jimmy Rolder, by the way? He blew up the screen. You know, you just talk about, you know, the past coverage. Him and Bowles might be two of the better. And, you know, Sullivan had the pick. But I got to say, I didn't see a ton, you know, from Cole in the past game.

But 15 snaps. So you didn't see a lot of them at all, yeah. But Rolder, I thought, looked as good as he's looked at Michigan. I've always thought, I'm not in high school. I remember watching high school film. I'm like, he kind of came out of nowhere on Michigan's radar, too. Like, Illinois offered him. He was an Illinois baseball commit, I want to say, back in the day,

or another sport committed to the line eye. And, you know, Michigan comes in, offers him. And I'm watching his film. I'm like, you know, this dude should be top 100. He ended up right around there, I think. But he's just been, you know, hit with injury bug, right? But, man, he blew up, he blew up that screen. He looked quick.

And so did Troy Bulls. He looks like the speed. He's got the speed of like a nickel. Like, it was kind of crazy. Like I said, I think we're as athletic. It's, we'll see how solemn they are, how technically are, how well they handle all the responsibilities. But just terms of sheer athleticism, I'm struggling to think of a year where we had better

athletes all around the field than we have right now. And that's exciting. They're fast. They want to bring it. You know, we'll see how they cover up and, you know, how they handle themselves in coverage and, you know, Materia's going to throw it all over the place during these strikes this week. Yeah, well, you know. secondary now, I think the guy that just kind of stuck out the most to me was T.J. Metcalf.

I mean, he's physical. He's fast. We had him on our podcast a month or two ago. You know, he had a really solid career at Arkansas. He had a game with like two picks and a fumble against Auburn last year. He's a ball player. You know, his first cousin's D.K. Yeah. Right. And so there was younger brothers on the team as well, Tevis. And Tevis is a little bit younger, but I'm sure going to be a good ball player. But, man, I was impressed. He was in the back field on some of those goal line stands he was around the ball every single play it felt like and man is he fast like he gets there in a hurry and he deliver a little bit of a big hit too i mean this guy very excited about tj metcalf i think we all wanted to see uh mikey replacement in that

position right and we it's yet to be seen mike he was so you know he's playing outside corner now in the NFL at time so uh so good in coverage we'll see how he does in that but i don't see Metcalf as Mikey. I see him a lot like peppers. He's all over the place and he's bringing it. You know, it's one game and so we'll see how that comparison stacks up over time. But he

was one of the more impactful players. I'm fairly confident. I'm going to go quick. Yeah, he led the defense in snaps. You know, him and Jaya led the team in snaps. So he was out there a lot with a lot of responsibility. They're going to keep stacking

it on him. And you know, I think the secondary, I mean, Hillman just always thumps guys, Curtis. Yeah. You know, the biggest disappointment to me other than, you know, we rotated a lot of guys and guys just, you know, we had some guys running open with Shamari Earls. Like, I was so excited to see him. He probably plays 20, he probably plays 30 snaps last year. Yeah. Didn't he, didn't he, is that, I saw it. True. Yes, it's true. For those that don't know, in the pregame, he was doing, he did a flip and didn't land it.

So he wanted to do it again. And the second time he landed it and hurt himself. So I think he's fine, but just enough to hold him out of the game. Right. And those are valuable reps. For sure. James Sanders, who's another freshman that they're hired on, played 25 snaps. And they, you know, he spread out.

If Earls is out there, they love him. He plays like 30, 32 snaps. Those are valuable snaps that he missed. Yeah. He's got a long, really good career. I think he's special, but he just didn't get to see it. So I was so disappointed because he's going to give him. There was a lot of, again, hinderinging.

What did you think of Jair? because I thought outside of a couple of plays. I thought he was really good. You know, I think he was solid. I think he's that guy that I don't know who there's a good comparison to, maybe Channing Stribling, you know, that looks really good at snaps, and does something that's kind of boneheaded. I think he still has mental lapses.

You know, that one really bad passive interference play that we've seen a few times from him. I thought he was good, but I think he still got, you know, if he, to be CB1 at a school like Michigan, you know, you need to be really good all the time. You need to be Jordan Lewis. You need to be, you know, we've had some really good guys in that position. So the standard is really high. And kind of my expectation that CB1 role is an elite guy that doesn't make some of the mistakes he still makes.

I think Zeke Barry is really good. Yeah, Zeke has been really good since moving the corner. You know what? I will tell you, I just looked it up because I was curious because I knew he's a younger guy. Jair was 19 on Saturday night. He turned 20 on Sunday. So young guy, right, a lot of talent. We know this.

And, you know, just some mental lapses here and there. And again, like that pass interference, he had good coverage on that third and goal down towards the south side of the stadium. It was the touchdown a few plays later that he kind of got beat on. But he was in good position. He had good coverage on that, on that PI. And he's just got to, you know, he's just got to learn not to just get too handsy because he's a man-to-man corner. He wants to be physically. He wants to get a hand fight, right?

Indisputable, the talent. I think Lamar Morgan will get the most out of him. I agree. He's a guy that's got first-round pick potential. Yeah, because he's all the great. He's long, he's rangy. Yeah, he's still young. He's got a lot of football football.

Absolutely. I mean, again, just turned 20, right? You know, a couple years older, but kind of the same thing as Bryce in terms of age in his class. So he's a guy that I'm very excited about still. And I think a lot of people were kind of freaking out. And I'm like, it's okay. You know, his first game, a little jitters, you know.

And they always say you make the biggest leap from getting. Game one to game two, right? Right, right. So excited to see these guys. Yeah, the other thing about Wink, I think, that's exciting about this group because of all the athleticism is, you know, they've talked about all offseason about having that group playing position. It's positionless football, right? And if you look, I saw this. I stole this from somebody, but it showed where each of them played.

Matt Kaff played 16 snaps in the box, seven in a traditional free safety role, and 33 in the slot. moving around. Hillman played a lot of free safety, a little bit in the box, some in the slot. They moved those guys around based on, you know, kind of matchups. But, and I think that's Wink's kind of vision, you know, Mason Curtis is 6-5 and Hillman's, you know, a crazy athlete, is having these guys be able to come in the box and play linebacker, safety corner. And we saw a lot of that moving around those guys. And so, you know, I think the positive thing is, should there be injuries, you know, as there always tends to be, he's got guys playing all over the field,

so we've got a guy stepping in and moving over, much like he Barry did last year. You know, I think they're going to be positioned really well for that. Yeah, and the freshman I thought looked really good. I think Jordan Young graded out as the highest rank defender for Michigan on nine snaps, granted, but also PFF, you know, we kind of talk about PFF a lot on this show. We didn't so much today. I saw their Big Ten quarterback rankings had Nico.

Everybody's going crazy on that way. Um, fourth, third or fourth, you know, and look, it's only, you know, grading if he did his job. So if guys dropped the ball, I didn't watch that game. But I was just going to say, 11 to 22, 136 yards, one touch on one pick. He's the third highest graded quarterback in the Big Ten. Kind of crazy to me, PFF. I don't know what we're doing. You brought it up.

I didn't, but as someone that uses PFF a lot and feels like to have to defend it at times because I go ahead, man, I'm all bored. Is I look, because I saw that, and I people ask me like, well, this is useless if he's graded that well. They didn't have a receiver graded into the top 400 in the country. They didn't have a tight end graded in the top 400 in the country that the run, the past blocking grades of their two running backs were the worst in the country. And they're off, they didn't have an offensive line grade of the top 250 in the country. So PFF's grades tell me that all the struggles that that that team had and the struggles of his stat line. I didn't watch a second that game, so I don't know. But the struggles of a.

stat line were on a lot of other parts of that offense, not his. And so if you were to believe that they, if he graded out wide receivers really good too and running backs, you just think whoever was assigned the UCLA game for PFF needs to be fired. I think whoever was assigned the UCLA game for PFF assigned responsibility more to everything else in the offense than to Nico clearly. Don't know if he was right, because I didn't watch it. We're going to get out of here soon. I got one thing to say, I hope that that, you know, that income coming from NIL to go UCLA, I hope that's invested, you know, maybe a S.P. 500 index account or something similar. Try to try to time value of money that thing compared to the NFL. Because, yeah, Hannah Hooker was a third-arm

pick coming out of Tennessee, you know, so they could, you know, they could at least get some guys to the draft. So that's going to be interesting. UCLA, you know, that's crazy. I mean, this is not a usually podcast, but they kind of finished hot last year, you know, and then it's just kind of, got, got, they got. They got clapped. Molly Wiles, yeah. Um, we, you always beat me to it. You always beat me to it.

It's like one of my favorite thing with the, the pod the last year, but we can't leave here without talking about one of our favorite guys. Where are we talking about? Domino, Zavada. Oh, I know, yeah. He's just, we're so spoiled. We are so spoiled. He is just like, I mean, as long, I'm,

been a fan for a long time NFL NFL those guys are pretty automatic but no matter and we've had great kickers the last five six eight years yeah very well still every time a college kicker's got a kick you're like yeah so yeah yeah he's so good was two of two um very glad to have him on our side um we know we're not really in the preview business Brian but real quick uh what's your thought what give me give me your prediction Saturday night gut feeling I mean I Oklahoma struggled, man. They are not the Oklahoma that we all think of. Michigan struggled might a week last year, too.

I think if you're being pragmatic, we have a bunch of new players, new coordinators, and an 18-year-old kid going to play his first road game at night in the game of the week. It's a great game and a great blue blood matchup, but it's just a weak slate. So this is the game of the week. So conventional wisdom tells you no matter how good Bryce Underwood is,

look what Arch Manning did go into Columbus, right? Man, I feel like we held everything back. I think Bryce, the best of Bryce is yet to come. And then the other thing you alluded to it earlier is as good as John Matier was against whatever Division 14 they played in week one, if you look at his success, he's fun to watch. Like he's like, you know, they're not playing Michigan's fun to watch. He's a gunslinger.

Kind of reminds me of a really good take fourcier, like running around, just slinging it. but he all his stats have come against bad teams he struggled against good teams and you know winks going to bring it and so i'm you know the optimist in me i you know again commercial wisdom oklahoma wins going going away you know but i i feel like michigan's going this one i do and and you know me i've usually been the more conservative of us too in making picks but i i have a good feeling i just like this team i like like where they're going look man i came into this thing in Michigan won national championship, my first full year doing, being back podcast with Louis and that's all I knew.

I didn't, you know, I didn't know what to be. All we do is win, right? I'm going to be, you know what? I'm going to be even less conservative. I'm going to say Michigan wins 3117, and I'm going to say that they've got like a late pick, six, late scoop and score or late turnover in Oklahoma territory that they put the way on. I said 27-17 last night on something I was in, right? Yeah.

We're close. Could be completely wrong. Could get clit. We might get clit, Brian. I don't know, man. I mean, we see what Texas did when they, on arch yeah roast bring it like well hey you know sometimes you out gain the team 360 to 200 and lose by seven i don't know you go for on fourth down four times you don't get any

of them yeah you know that's just sometimes that happens i'm excited though man i'll be i'll be locked in it's going to be back isn't it we got the NFL we're recording this right before the uh i think the NFL game is probably the nine and a half and uh some NFL tonight and tomorrow on friday uh i believe i don't i think the chiefs play that i think in uh Brazil or do we have Friday NFL football? We do. Yeah, it's on YouTube, exclusively on the YouTube app. So I'm going to be a great weekend of football, you know, five days in a row here coming up. I can't wait from action. I want football every night of the week that I can have on in the background. So it's great to be back. Appreciate you guys for listening. I want to say a big thank

you to Feldman, Chevrolet, of Highland, our title sponsor. We will be at the tailgate for the Central Michigan game coming up on September 13th. So week after the Oklahoma game, we will will have also Woodson Whiskey, the Mazin Blitz. I'm telling you, Brian, they did mixed drinks. And the bartender didn't realize that there was just the bourbon and also the Mazin Blitz, which is the cinnamon. So when I got a whiskey sour, they just threw it in with the cinnamon. That sucker was pretty good. Let me tell you. So come check out the tailgate. Thank you so much to our sponsors. You can check us out on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, at Blueby90, and Blueby90.com. We appreciate you. Go Blue. Go Blue.